Dead Air
Summary: While investigating a mysterious distress signal, the Transformers find a hostile planet. A stranger prophesies doom, while some of the Decepticons encounter a familiar face. Note: Since the person logging this would be the 'familiar face' picked up on the planet, I only have radio chatter prior to everyone's arrival. Date: 12 Sep 2029 D-56 Ramjet says, "Tailwind, plot course for the Demasus Anomoly and engage stardrive." Singe says, "Tailwind. That's almost as bad as Windbreaker." D-56 Ramjet says, "Hnh." D-56 Ramjet says, "Hnh. Where is the wormhole." D-56 Ramjet says, "Sweep, your starmap must be defective!" Avalanche says, "This is why I like to stay on the ground." Singe says, "Seeker, it's not my starmap! It's spacetime itself." D-56 Ramjet says, "Don't you go blaming space-time on my SHIP." Singe says, "Wormholes are like the Hotel California - you can check in any time, but you can never leave." Fulcrum says, "Can't you just make your own?" D-56 Ramjet says, "How witty." Fulcrum says, "Hn.. some sort of distortion torpedo.. ? Massive amounts of energy required to create space-time rupture, no way of setting destination..." D-56 Ramjet says, "But I warn you, quoting the Eagles on my SHIP has dire consequences." Singe says, "How dire?" Singe says, "Dire wolf? Or more like dire shrew?" D-56 Ramjet says, "More like dire I-will-Air-Commander-your-face-in." Fulcrum says, "Perhaps a photon ram." Singe says, "...you really don't get it, do you?" D-56 Ramjet says, ".. did you say photon ram?" Fulcrum says, "Still doesn't solve the end-point problem" Fulcrum says, "If there were some reliable way of artificially creating a quantum entanglement over those distances.." D-56 Ramjet says, "Fulcrum." D-56 Ramjet says, "Listen very closely." Fulcrum says, "Hm?" Singe ahems and sings, "Take it easy, take it easy, don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you cee-ray-zee!" D-56 Ramjet says, "I want something. That will. Blow a hole. In time and relative dimensions in space." D-56 Ramjet says, "Can you do that for me." Fulcrum says, "Given enough energy, that is not a problem. What is a problem is making sure the hole leads somewhere useful, and not, say, into an infinitely small point." D-56 Ramjet says, "Hnh." Avalanche says, "....Well couldn't we research the old files on the Militants?" <:D Catechism says, "How *much* energy are we talking here?" D-56 Ramjet transmits the tapping of his fingers against his cone. Fulcrum says, "Enough energy to massively distort time/space. So.. a LOT." D-56 Ramjet says, "Define a lot." D-56 Ramjet says, "Like a /sun/?" D-56 Ramjet says, "Or do I need to go through a tricky business of aligning several planets via their gravitational field to act as an amplifier of energy." Fulcrum says, "Yes, I would say about that much energy. Or mass, really." <:D Catechism says, "Oh, suns are easy." Fulcrum says, "It's all the same in the end." Wiretap says, "Suns explode all the time, and they don't leave wormholes behind." D-56 Ramjet says, "Hnnh. This pleases me." Fulcrum says, "Yes, but they're not always where you want them." Fulcrum says, "Of course they don't, Wiretap. That's why you manipulate them to do so." D-56 Ramjet says, "Singe, come to command deck." D-56 Ramjet says, "I have a great desire to unburden my tensions by squeezing my hand around your throat as I consider the possibilities ahead of me." Fulcrum says, "I think Shockwave would be the best one to talk to about this. He is famed for his energy-manipulating abilities, and he's one of the premier scientists in the Empire." D-56 Ramjet says, "Oh and possibly poking your optical lenses out but let's not ruin the moment of this." Singe says, "That sounds fantastic, Ramjet! Could you also roughly smash my face into the floor?" You paged Catechism with 'Will Blueshift be about for The Thing at 7?' Avalanche says, "As I said before, couldn't we research how the Militants used that technology?" Avalanche says, "Or am I being foolish?" D-56 Ramjet says, "If you have to ask." Fulcrum says, "First of all, why would we use the technology of pathetic organic creatures. Secondly, what if we open a hole to their disgusting dimension? It was bad enough them being HERE." D-56 Ramjet says, "My Chief Advisor brings up two excellent points." D-56 Ramjet says, "The second of which will be solved right after I attain my next promotion." Singe says, "We could always open a hole to that dimension, dump a bunch of napalm down the hole, and then close it. Eeheh heh." Dredclaw says, "Besides, in their dementions supposedly Transformers were *their* slaves... how backwards is that!?" Avalanche says, "I am finding that quite humorous." D-56 Ramjet says, "Completely backwards." D-56 Ramjet says, "However." D-56 Ramjet says, "I have yet to experience the X'al-divine thrill of squeezing until Chikome Ollin's cranial matter oozes between my fingers." D-56 Ramjet says, "But." D-56 Ramjet says, "All in good time after what shall no doubt be one of Aerospace's greatest moments." Singe says, "Squishy, squishy cranial matter..." Austin says, "You'll never get the chance. He hasn't logged in since 2007." Austin pops his hand over his mouth. Nothing but static, that. D-56 Ramjet says, "Silence Austin! The Empire will have its revenge." Fulcrum says, "Oh, and at a rough estimate, we'd need 170763483959995351.6 times 10 to the power of 33 joules." D-56 Ramjet says, "Yes. Yes. Physics. Physics. Phizzz-icks." Fulcrum says, "That's the brute force method of course." D-56 Ramjet says, "Aside from that." D-56 Ramjet says, "I am not a completely selfish mechanoid, Dredclaw. I am aware of just what Ollin has done to your kind." Dredclaw says, "So you know the ammount of hatred that I bear for him Ramjet? You can comprehend this?" Singe says, "There's always good, old-fashioned drawing and quartering - it makes fun for *everyone*. Or least for four people." D-56 Ramjet says, "I am aware, my 'friend.' Keenly aware." D-56 Ramjet says, "And so I am making this proposal to you." D-56 Ramjet says, "When I have been promoted to AIR COMMANDER of /TIME/, I will set our war-machine's sights on the Universe of the Militants." D-56 Ramjet says, "And we will rip apart the Militants, squishy bit from stiff bit, as an Empire." Wiretap says, "Commabder of TIME? Have you've been renting out the vacant space in your cone again, Ramjet?" Avalanche chuckles. Dredclaw says, "In this you will have my full and complete co-operation, allowing that Scourge and the rest of CoC will it." D-56 Ramjet says, "And completely unlike, say, a loosely organized band of thugs, ne'er-do-wells, and killers." Dredclaw says, "I would devote everything to that Hunt, Ramjet." Avalanche says, "Then as I said, would it not benefit us to learn their tech?" Fulcrum says, "I assume this means you've volunteered, Avalanche?" Wiretap says, "Useful technology is useful technology, regardless of who first made it." Fulcrum says, "I'm sure our databases have records of Militant encounters." Avalanche says, "Then I shall analyze them." D-56 Ramjet says, "Dredclaw. He left behind a city." D-56 Ramjet says, "On Earth. You know of it?" Fulcrum says, "I don't think you'll be interested though, the Militant faction were a bunch of pathetic and ultimately insignificant individuals" Fulcrum says, "Barely worth the matter they were made from, and certainly not any kind of threat" Dredclaw says, "Azywhozits or some such drivel...yes." D-56 Ramjet says, "You must take an infiltration party inside." D-56 Ramjet says, "And scour whatever he has left behind." D-56 Ramjet says, "And see if any residual energy of his fleeing remains." Avalanche says, "I shall see what I can find." D-56 Ramjet says, "..And Singe, you're leaking all over my tapestries." Singe says, "So sorry about that. Let me get that..." Sound of a lighter being flicked open. D-56 Ramjet sigh. Dredclaw says, "we'll let you know what we find, Ramjet." D-56 Ramjet says, "Very well." D-56 Ramjet says, "Hnh. No wormhole regardless. Tailwind, reverse course and return us to Cybertron." D-56 Ramjet says, "Though I suppose Air Commander of Time is a bit.. wordy." D-56 Ramjet says, "Perhaps Time Commander will be better." D-56 Ramjet says, "Hnh, there is something still off about it." <:D Catechism says, "Oh, just do Timelord and be done with it, sir." Wiretap says, "Or stop being an idiot." D-56 Ramjet says, "Hmm! Timelord.." A muffled female voice reports, "This is *crzk*, and we are *zkt*. I repeat, *zkrz*. Require immediate assistance at-" and a second signal drowns out her words with, "Ai shi cai se tang yi bao zhuang." D-56 Ramjet says, "Galvatron, Trypticon's sensors detect distress call on Cybertron frequencies." Galvatron says, "Let's see what they have to offer. Available forces, converge on the distress signal's coordinates." Wiretap says, "Along with an additional signal in an unidentified language... Running cryptography programs..." Wiretap has encrypted this channel. Cyclonus says, "My liege, a report from Soundwave that has come across my desk indicates that the signal comes from an area of space known as the /Medusa Cascade/" D-56 Ramjet says, "Hnh. The Medusa Cascade!?" <:D Catechism says, "Reporting, sir!" Wiretap says, "Don't know how long my signal encryption will hold up, if you have anything important, say it now." Galvatron says, "Then we go to the Medusa Cascade. Unless anyone has any /objections/." Cyclonus says, "I apologise my lord, my time will be best served with the dreary task of auditing fuel usage for the current plans" D-56 Ramjet says, "Hnhh. None, milord. I am aboard Cone-1 and nearing the Medusa Cascade. Preparing to disengage warp-engines." D-56 Ramjet says, "Tailwind, drop to sublight drives and enter.. the Cascade." D-56 Ramjet says, "Hnnh.. what is a planet doing here.." <:D Catechism says, "...more to the point, sir, it has eight suns! Imagine what Fulcrum could do with those!" D-56 Ramjet says, "There is an old tale amongst Decepticon Space Attack, Catechism." D-56 Ramjet says, "That when a ship enters the Cascade, it never returns the same way." <:D Catechism says, "I will say that Tailwind's going to need to be a fantastic pilot to get us out of this place intact..." Wiretap says, "The Autobots seem to be having difficulty mustering enough troops to send for an investigation." Soundwave says, "Radio transmissions detected. Analyzing.." Kingdom of Iraklia Despite the wretched heat in the north, the deep freeze in the south, and the frying radiation, intelligent life lives on Alkor Zephyr. In the south, closer to the cold than the heat, sits the kingdom of Iraklia, descended from the earlier kingdom of Lor. Small hamlets scatter the land. With eight suns, the common people tend to farm out solar cell ranches and solve most of their energy needs in that way. Glossy expanses of solar cells stretch out across the fields, and one may catch a glimpse of a native dusting the soot from the north off the cells to keep production peak. Along trade routes and rivers created by glacier melt, there are larger cities, where trade bustles. The natives seem a suspicious people, however, and are quite wary of strangers. It is as if they expect doom at every turn. Blueshift arrives from the Middle Dust Plains to the north. Blueshift has arrived. Galvatron arrives from the Middle Dust Plains to the north. Galvatron has arrived. Soundwave arrives from the Middle Dust Plains to the north. Soundwave has arrived. Ramjet arrives from the Middle Dust Plains to the north. Ramjet has arrived. Catechism arrives from the Middle Dust Plains to the north. Catechism has arrived. Hound arrives from the Middle Dust Plains to the north. Hound has arrived. Durango arrives from the Middle Dust Plains to the north. Durango has arrived. Catechism is on the bounce! She bounces... and gets hit by a flying boulder launched by a volcano in the north. Despite the howling wind, there is the sound of her cockpit glass being crushed. She goes down, and she vanishes into a new snowdrift. Luckily, the rest of this area seems to be in a milder climate than the one that they just left, and hauling her out should not be too tricky. Ventress Exo-Suit arrives from the Middle Dust Plains to the north. Ventress Exo-Suit has arrived. Catechism reports, "This is Catechism, and we have encountered severe weather conditions. I repeat, severe weather conditions. Require immediate assistance at-" and a boulder clonks into her, shutting her up. Blueshift blasts over the landscape, snow peeling off his form as he escapes the chaos, his form casting a shadow over the land far below. "Settlements!" he shouts out. "Life! SLAVES!" Below him, on top of a small hill is a robotic native, spindly, tied to what looks like a cross, left out for the elements Galvatron flies somewhat behind Blueshift, his cannon cutting an orange glow visible more readily than things that /aren't/ glowing with unholy energy in the heavy snow. "Hmph," he grunts. "If they can survive these conditions, they'd likely make good ones, too. I just hope they're not as /annoying/ as the Nepsans." Ventress Exo-Suit Robot trails very far behind the decepticons 'war pack' and lowers herself to deal better with the blizard conditions.....yes she's been taught to fly in these conditions. oddly....it was a good time to test something out....as she tapped a few buttons and a 3d image of the landscape appeared. the drawback....screw depth perception. Hound rolls across the frozen ground from the south to suddenly find himself in much brighter, but not any more hospital, then what he found around the shuttle landing sight. He stops at the top of a slight rise which flows down toward the plains where the people who live here have gathered before taking in the land...and the Decepticons moving across it. 'Durango, things are getting a lot more complicated. This planet -really- doesn't like guests and it looks like it doesn't like whoever lives here either. There's structures out there and it looks like the Cons have seen them too.' Sheng has arrived. Durango shifts down into SUV mode. "Slaves?" Ramjet narrows his brow as he sets down, the snow crunching loudly beneath his engine feet. "What slaves?" His fingers curl into his palm, readying to react with a healthy blast of laserfire if necessary. Ramjet's cone slides smoothly as he looks around, his brow still narrowed and furrowed. "Where'd Catechism run off to? Hnh.. Women." Catechism manages to claw her way out of the snowdrift. Her cockpit is busted in, and she has icicles hanging off her wings, but aside from that, she is more or less intact. Spotting the crucified robot, she moves closer to investigate, wary and twitching. Subaru Outback is rolling a little ways behind Hound, taking care to avoid volcanic destruction where possible. 'Gotcha..stay locked on, though. We'ah 'eah teh answer a distress signal, an' I intend feh us teh find out 'ho it was.' Blue Spaceship flies over the hamlets, looping in the sky, cackling. "I name this land BLUESHIFTIA!" he yells, shooting random laser bolts down to the ground, setting a few houses on fire. "My new ARMY!" With the traditional transformation sounds, Sheng transforms from her battle-mode to her highly updated hovertruck mode, ready to move out. Soundwave smartly uses his insanely complicated system of listening devices to figure out exactly where he is and where he's headed. "Negative," he transmits to Blueshift. "Cease firing. Priority: investigation." Ventress Exo-Suit Robot flies low over Durango and rockets on ahead. The pilot trying to find Hound. The figure on the cross seems to be ancient. Humanoid, spindly, but with four sets of optics, he stares blankly out at the horizon. He seems to have been depleted of sustinence for quite a while Hound rolls down the rise, bumping and jostling across the landscape, as he homes in on the source of the distress signal that Durango was talking about as, in the distance, thin plumes of smoke rise out from Blueshift's random shooting. 'I think we'd better hurry, Durango, or there might be more people in distress then ther are of us.' He opens another channel, still keeping in contact with Durango, as he speaks to Talazia. 'We'd appreciate the help...you see anything up there?' Gold Hovertruck (Sheng) keeps pace with Durango, Hound and Talazia, raising up a good ten feet into the air as she spots the plumes of smoke, trying to find teh source. No matterwhat the result is, it can't be worse then the blizzard. Cold is evil. She says nothing, scanning the area. Catechism reaches out to lightly cuff the ancient robot, frowning. She demands, "Are you even alive? Speak! Speak for your new overlords!" Of course, it probably doesn't speak Decepticonese. Ventress Exo-Suit Robot flies on ahead of Hound and is able to zoom in on the cross that the Decepticons are focused at. 'Odd.....there's a humanoid on a cross. four sets of eyes" She says softly. "They're in a town, I know that much. It's not far ahead guys."' The cloaked figure raises it's ancient head to Catechism. He speaks perfect Decepticonese. "So you have returned, as we feared!" he croaks. "I was right, I am always right... he is coming back...." Hound is usually rather easy going but at Talazia's message even he sounds shocked. "A humanoid on one of those crosses? What is it with this planet? Come on, let's hurry and see if we can save whoever it is!" He guns his engine even further and heads toward the distant cross at the best speed he can manage. Twisting and shifting, the exo-suit transforms into the Talon exo-jet. <:D Catechism says, "Has a Decepticon party ever visited this world before? Is there anything in the databanks?" D-56 Ramjet says, "Catechism, where have you run off to?" For any who have their eyes to the skies in these inhospitable lands, a pale yellow and ice-blue triangle can be seen approaching from a generally south-western direction. From a distance, the new arrival's keen sensors have picked up activity. New activity. Unexpected activity. As the craft approaches, the figures begin to resolve. 'It... it can't be!' the craft thinks, shocked. 'At last!' Those with keen enough sensors may be able to make out a familiar, pyramid design. Ventress Exo-Suit Jet transforms and flies her way closer. 'Decepticons be damned....I'm gonna see if I can help.' She says making her way straight for the town.' <:D Catechism says, "There is a strange robot on a cross out here. He speaks our language, and he claims we have been here before." Sixshot says, "Which world is this?" Meanwhile, Sunstorm sighs as he tends to a few sparking wires aboard . "I wish Ramjet would let me go on these away missions..." He strokes his cube before returning to fixing his console. Blueshift grumbles as he hears Soundwave's orders, but he detects the approaching Autobots, and the new aerial menace. "Incoming!" he practically screams. "I am charging my lasers, I will blow this enemy FROM THE SKY!" <:D Catechism says, "Somewhere in the Medusa Cascade. Tailwind, do our starcharts give this planet a name?" Swoop has arrived. Soundwave spots the pyramid. He spots everything. It's what makes him cool. He sends a broad-spectrum transmission: "Unidentified craft: identify." Sheng just looked at you. From Ventress Exo-Suit , Talazia Keldahoff makes her way closer towards the town, but a red blip appears on her radar. 'Durango, Sheng, Hound.....I'm detecting a new ship in the sky...and it's not Swoop. Can you identify?' Galvatron is looking for Nazi gold or some other appreciable form of treasure, attuning his Greed Sensors to try and detect /some/ trophy, because if he doesn't find any, he'll have to shoot Blueshift and call that 'victory enough.' "Is it native to this hellhole of a world?" he grumbles over at Soundwave. "If so, hail it and find out what this place has to offer, other than annoyance. I'm rather /tiring/ of mysteries." Subaru Outback makes another effort at locating Swoop via radio: 'SWOOP! Wheah'd yeh go, bruce?' He drives forward, chasing down Hound and Tal's signals. Ensign Tailwind clicks in, "Negative. The Medusa Cascade has yet to be mapped to Imperial starcharts. Last known data was procured by Destroyer Fleet.. but.." Blueshift says, "This world is called BLUESHIFTIA, Sixshot" The yellow and blue craft, now near enough to be clearly identified as a Seeker-style tetrajet, adjusts its flight pattern, taking a more erratic, difficult to track approach. However, after only a moments' silence, it answers, voice amazed, over the radio, using not a general frequency, but a Decepticon channel two years out of date. "S...Soundwave? Decepticons! I don't believe it!" Another pause. He has not used his name in a long time. "Decepticon Seeker Fleet reporting." A brief, bitter laugh is barked out. "What brings you here? Obviously not me." How odd, Sheng and Galvatron agree on something. There is a reason Sheng is so singularly bad at riddles, and it hails from how little she loves mysteries. The gold femme picks up speed, able to take a straight path for the town, the smoke and one would assume the person on the cross, raipidly reaching her top speed, agian, choosing to stay silent. There's not much she can add to the conversation, after all. Robot Pteranodon is up, up, up and about. He hasn't really been paying attention at all, content to stare out into nothing and fly around aimlessly. Well, he WAS, untill Durango had to interrupt him with an irritating message. "Hrn, him Australiabot annoying. Bug me Swoop.." Since he'll probably get nagged untill he responds, he transmits a message back. 'Up in air. What you want?' Hound continues to drives a top speed toward the cross which gets closer every moment but, as the object itself becomes ever more visible, so does the form of Catechsim standing in front of the cross and looking up toward the figure tied to it. Hound swerve out of sight, concealing himself behind what seem to be a pile of shattered stones that may have once been a structure of some kind, before Hounds gets in touch with the rest behind him. 'I see a Decepticon in front of the contact point...want me to scare up a hologram and see if I can make enough of a ruckus to get them out of there?' Blueshift hasn't heard Fleet, or else pretends not to, as his lasers whine and he starts shooting in Fleet's general direction. "Nnnn SOMETHING must die today!" he shouts out loud. "And not me this time!" Ramjet scowls at Blueshift. "How many times have I told you to NOT announce your intentions of readying your weapons!?" He shakes his cone at his Sapphire Spacenoid before looking back up. He narrows his optics into a squint, sharpening the grid of his sensors. "Wait, that looks like one of our pilots. Blueshift, cease being yourself!" He swings his hand at Blueshift's head. Ramjet misses Blue Spaceship with his Slap! attack. Catechism frowns rather deeply, and she wags a finger at the hooded figure, demanding, "Oh, I know how this goes! Next thing, you'll be rambling about the Lords of the Fourth. Look, we have *not* been here before. I checked it." She has not yet noticed the pastel figure that has flown into the area and greeted Soundwave. Sixshot says, "Did you just decide that Blueshift?" D-56 Ramjet says, "Do not encourage him, Sixswitch." Blueshift says, "...maybe" Soundwave emits a burst of feedback. "UNIT: BLUESHIFT. CEASE FIRING." Blueshift says, "Yes sir!" Sixshot says, "There's a Decepticon named Sixsw--?" The hooded figure looks at Cate, then his head wobbles slightly. "Here on Alkor Zephyr the gateway to the Fifth was opened" he croaks. "And your master... I am glad I will not live to see the day..." Singe says, "There was. Used to do standup at the Apocalypse. He finally got the punchline." Soundwave radios back to Fleet. "Decepticon Seeker, report to Air Commander Ramjet for identity confirmation. Delay unacceptable." Blueshift says, "He kept going on about being a living weapon, then someone strapped explosives to him and shot him from a cannon...." Twisting and shifting, the Talon exo-jet transforms into an exo-suit. Ventress Exo-Suit Robot transforms back into robot mode and actually turns up the gain on her speakers.....and hears part of the message from the guy on the cross. 'Alkor Zephyr? Gateway to the fifth? Your master? Hound, Durango? You guy's hearing this?' She then transmits the message to them.....of course they'll have to filter out the Ventress' engines. Subaru Outback now realizes why he never volunteered for leadership positions. First, a radio to Hound. 'Negative, mate...get in and see if yeh can pick up on what theah sayin' teh each othah..don' engage unless she looks 'ostile.' Then, to Swoop. 'Hone in on Hound's signal, we'ah meetin' up with him.' Catechism clenches a hand into a fist and silently pumps it into the air. Yes. Yes! This is *exactly* where she needs to be, then. In the belly of Medusa, the Enemy was stitched into the Fifth, but... her master? Oh, right. She's a Hollow Man. How bothersome. Catechism turns around, looking for Ramjet, and her head tilts to once side when she instead spots a pastel yellow and icy blue tetrajet. She used to know a pastel yellow tetrajet but never an icy blue. Catechism mutters, "I guess that we have been here before, then." Perhaps if Blueshift had been firing *at* Fleet he would have had better luck. Perhaps not. Either way, the tetrajet manages to slip back and forth, avoiding the weapons-fire before transforming into robot mode, twisting lithely to avoid the last few shots. Continuing to use that outdated frequency, he replies, "I thought accepted practice was to wait until after the order was given and ignored firing commences?" His tone is faintly amused, and just a little... off. It's followed quickly by, "Even so, as you command, Soundwave. By the way, are you aware that you have... company?" With these last few words, he begins to dive towards the other Decepticons. "Fleet," Galvatron says, listening in on the situation as he stomps over. He regards the jet as best he can in the conditions, red eyes blazing neutrally. "I'll have time to wonder what you're doing here later. Stop being coy and say what you mean by 'company.'" He shoots a glare over at Blueshift, as well, but refrains from striking the blue robot, as much as he really, really wants to. Sixshot says, "I see. Sounds like if it was atleast a memorable last performance." Gold Hovertruck (Sheng) says, "The fifth?" Teh femme tries to pick up a bit more speed, dropping down low to the ground and lowering her heat signature as much as she can... which isn't much but she IS trying. She can see the Decepticons now, and she shifts her path to head towards a bit of cover, not where Hound hides but anotehr one of those convient transformer scaled boulders. (Blast, I hope what I think that means is wrong or we are certainly in trouble.)" Blueshift hurtles down at great speeds as he recieves his orders, and transforms to kneel before Galvatron. "MY LORD!" He yells, interrupting any dramatic flow Galvatron may have had. "MY LIFE AT YOUR COMMAND!" He repeatedly bows, his internal sensors going mad at all the Autobots nearby. The spaceship flips up into the handsome form of Blueshift Hound drives out from beyond the pile of stones, moving slowly in an attempt to attract as little attention as possible, as he makes his way toward where Catechism is having her impromtu celebration. He changes direction as he sees the other turn around and luckily sees a shallow cave nearby which he backs himself into before turning his sensors(and his turret) on the nearby Catechism. 'I've see the Decepticon...I can't tell who it is but they look pleased about something. That can't be good to anybody.' "Well. He is certainly as /mincing/ as I remember.." grumps Ramjet. He folds his arms over his canopy-chest and cops a suitably surly look. It's as if he can tell that, somewhere distant from here, Sweeps are failing him miserably. "Blueshift, get ahold of yourself immediately." Galvatron strikes Blueshift with Soda Can Crush. Blueshift says, "My soda can :(" Galvatron says, "Forgot to rename Kick :(" Galvatron just boots Blueshift out of the way with his heel, sighing loudly. Robot Pteranodon groans and continues to soar up above, well, the ground, I guess. Look, there's only so many ways to describe flying. Nevertheless, there he is, and there he goes, to meet up with Hound for reasons he's unsure of. The next time someone tries to tell you how OCs can't get a fair shake around here, just remember this scene, as an Outback rip-off with stats that would make a tapebot laugh orders around Gen1 heroes the likes of Swoop and Hound. Granted, he might not be doing it well. Nor is he doing any of it in this pose. In fact he's doing nothing in this pose but driving, waiting for some plot device to which he might react. Fleet had been diving, but as he nears the other Decepticons he flips, heels over head, and twists, touching down feather-light on the frigid ground near Ramjet. He lowers his head towards Galvatron in deference, lines around his optics showing the faintest bit of fear, but despite this the right corner of his lips perks up, as though some inner secret smile were trying to show itself. "Autobots, Lord Galvatron," he says out loud. "Converging on this position." Catechism hears, distantly, Galvatron mention, verbally, a certain name. And when she does, when that name finally breaks into her CPU, she forgets about the hooded figure and the Fifth and how she may accidentally cause the end of the universe with her machinations. Her jaw drops, and she breaks into a sprint to close the distance between her and the other Decepticon. When she's close enough, she attempts to tackle the pastel Seeker and hollers, "Fleet! I thought you were dead! Not like when you were a zombie, but actually dead." That's why she has to tackle him. To make sure he's not some stupid solid hologram. Catechism succeeds in grasping Fleet, throwing him off-balance. Ventress Exo-Suit Robot is still hovering above the scene...but she's still getting wary. 'Guys....if we want to rescue this guy...now would be the time. If a couple of you is willing to do so.....we can give the cons a bit of a distraction while someone gets the guy down.' "Thank you my lord!" Blueshift mumbles as he is kicked. "I am not worthy!" Then he straightens to view the Autobots, leaping into the air. "AUTOBOTS!" he shouts, as if he has only just realised, and he is the first to do so. "Do not worry, I will kill them all!" With that, he takes out his pistol and fires a small shot at Swoop Blueshift misses Robot Pteranodon with his Pew pew attack. Soundwave strides over to Blueshift to physically throw him into the dirt. He's ordered the Decepticon twice to stop firing at everything randomly. Third time's a faceplant. Soundwave misses Blueshift with his grasp attack. Hound is still in his cave as he watches Catechism tackle the newly arrived Fleet and Blueshift opening fire on Swoop before Soundwave tries to tackle him. 'It looks like they're pretty distracted already, but we don't need a couple, just my holograms. Who'd you like? Grimlock? Sky Lynx? Defensor? Pick a gram, any gram!' Fleet is tackled by Catechism, and consequently knocked to the ground. His expression twists first into a snarl before settling on a bitter smile. "Enthusiastic greeting, but I wassn't worth being looked for, was I? But then, if I went missing, I obviously deserved it, didn't I?" Then he barks out a short laugh. "Of course, I'm still here to be found, despite being abandoned in Hell. Well, if not Hell, near enough it. Either way, I guess I must deserve to be found, too." He laughs again. Oh, thank God. Someone was stupid enough to start shooting at something. This is great because that stupid someone is Blueshift, and that something is Swoop. The girly laser fire misses the Dinobot by a good margin, leaving him perfectly capable of laying the beat-down. "Me Swoop under attack! Time for ree-tall-ee-a-shun!" He holds his wings straight out and makes a dive towards Blueshift, agape jaws releasing a spout of flames. Swoop misses Blueshift with its Fiyah attack. Subaru Outback pulls up in the area and transforms. No use being sneaky now. He speaks softly. "Hound...a gestahlt team, unmehged. Talazia, Sheng...one of yeh wanna talk teh the being an' see what it 'as to say?" Figures it's better for one of them. Language might already be a barrier. Gold Hovertruck (Sheng) reaches her boulder-of-hiding and considers the situation. (Why is it no one ever even wonders if the person beign punished is a BAD person?) she transforms. "I'll speak to the being," she offers, looking over at Durango. Subaru Outback nods to Sheng, even as he turns his attention to Swoop. "Dangit.." Durango shifts into his robot mode. "How wonderful for you," Ramjet mutters as he glances back to see Swoop titularly swooping from the sky and unleashing a breath of flames at Blueshift. Giving Fleet a nudge with the tip of his foot, he turns back to point his rifle in Swoop's direction. "Now on the bounce, Trooper. We're under attack!" With the traditional transformation sounds, Sheng transforms from an updated hovertruck to her sleek and deadly battle-mode, ready for whatever may come. "You're lucky I killed that space worm on the surface here, and not out in open space," Galvatron says to Fleet nonchalantly. "And that's it. Now. If we're all done... hugging, and having /feelings/, let's make this planet the Autobots' tombs, shall we? Bring down the Dinobot." Blueshift ducks out of the way of Swoop by transforming, blasting into the air. "Wait, am I still supposed to cease fi-oh, slaggit!" He turns on Swoop, opening up his laser batteries. "This world is OURS Autobot, and whatever we find here!" Blueshift leaps into the air, flipping into the form of a small spacecraft Blueshift strikes Robot Pteranodon with Pewpewpew. Catechism stabs a finger at Fleet, and she snaps, "It hasn't exactly been roses for me! I ended up the leg of a doomed combiner, I got turned human, and I've spent most of my recent life busted down at rank 1 and 2. I haven't even had the clearance to know that you went AWOL on a scouting mission until a few months ago." She looks over at Ramjet. Thanks for the promotion! She sighs. To think she once missed this fellow. She gets to her feet and offers Fleet a hand up. Hound keeps concealed in the cave but even at this distance there's still much he can do to the Decepticons below. As Durango draws near to him Hound turns his turret to the up and points toward the far distance. A narrow beam of light, almost invisible except to those who know what to look for, shines forht and summons up a Hound Special. From the distance, with theaterical quality light and sound, comes a steady thudding as if a large and heavy mechanical approaching. Eventually, after several moments, Defensor emerges into sight of the gathered Decepticons and points toward them with a stern look on his face. "You shall cause no injury!" he booms toward the gathered Cons. Defensor has arrived. There is still rumbling from the north, lest anyone has forgotten, and a few superheated boulders come flying into the area. Ventress Exo-Suit Robot transforms and flies away from the area. 'go ahead, Sheng....I'll keep an eye out for you. maybe I'll draw a few of these damned coneheads off of you.' she says as she literally buzzes galvatron at mach 3. 'Galvatron's here! Heads up!' Twisting and shifting, the exo-suit transforms into the Talon exo-jet. Fleet studies the hand that Catechism offers distrustfully, then he pulls himself upright without help. "Lord Galvatron. Ramjet. If we wish to make of this world the Autobots' tomb, all we need do is /cut off their retreat./" Spotting the flaming bolders, he leaps into the air, chuckling. "The world itself would finish the job for us." Sheng says, "The fifth, that book obsessed seeker and Galvatron. 'oh it was a ruse and trap' indeed." Sheng nods to Durango and Talazia and darts out from her cover, heading towards themech on the cr-Oh, incomming rocks from teh sky. She leaps and barely dodges one of tehm, some of the partially melted stone leaping off to splatter her armor, though it doesn't even scorch her paint as she starts moving toward the cross agian. (I lay odds this will not end well.)" The laser fire strikes Swoop smack in one of his wings, the result being a nice scorch mark and light smoke coming off the 'wound'. "Hn, me Swoop say you stupid for attacking me. Me now deem you Stupidshift! Hrrahaha!" Swoop is easilly amused, you see. He comes back around for another jab at the Decepticon, this time with his claws poised to sink into, well, anything really. "Is it... is it..." The figure on the cross raises his head weakly as Sheng approaches, her gold glinting off his opticss. "No..." he mumbles sadly. "It is not him. We /are/ all doomed." Swoop strikes Blue Spaceship with Claw. Soundwave has lost interest in the fight, and now is in Investigator mode. He stalks over toward the man on the cross.. Catechism almost looks hurt by Fleet's distrust and how dismissive he is, but she cannot blame him. She wouldn't trust herself, these days. She doesn't trust herself, in fact. She grumps and wonders why she missed him. Perhaps she just needed to improve her aim... ohslag, Defensor and flying rocks! Catechism dives to take cover. Hound remains still as Defensor moves closer, that heavy thumping growing louder with each step, before he comes to a slow stop and turns to look toward the easily discernible figure of Galvatron before he points toward him again. "Destroyer of life! I respect that which you take away but, for them, I will take your existance this day!" Sheng looks at the figure on the cross. "Ah. So what I thought was true. But sometimes people can save themselves without heroes." she states calmly. "Why are you on this cross?" Yet more flying boulders come tumbling down from the north, and there are also some added gouts of magma. Dance, robots, dance! Soundwave ends up just a few meters away from Sheng, casting his hate-filled gaze on the golden Autobot. Well, that's not menacing at all. But he's not here for destruction, he's here for information. "You'll get nothing useful from /him/," Fleet snorts in response to Sheng's questioning. "He's quite mad. It happens a lot around here. Radiation. Gets more common when they get older. Odds favor, that's why he's out here." He looks up and growls faintly, twisting out of the way of one of the smaller rocks. "Live long enough here, it'll drive anyone mad," he murmurs. Ventress Exo-Suit Jet refuses to dance....she DOES, however, dodge the flying debris. 'Intrepid, this is Siryn. Prep for takeoff....this world is NOT acting right.....and the volcanoes are all going active at the same time.' She says on shortwave to the shuttle as well as to the autobot shuttle. As Defensor advances, Galvatron stares the super warrior -- super protector, rather -- down. He seems unfazed. "Die," he growls, charging forward and attmpting to /rip/ Defensor's leg -- First Aid -- from his torso with the might of a mad tyrant. "I want to stand above you when I kill you, Defensor," he growls, "and this is the easiest route to that!" "No, I am not stupidshift, I am BLUEshift!" Blueshift roars, his side smoking as he is hit by the claws. The rumblings in the distance disquiet him slightly. "I will end this now, stupid dinobot!" His spacecraft mode powers towards Swoop, not stopping for anything. "I will core you like a Cyberapple!" Galvatron strikes Defensor with Leg Rip. Defensor is deactivated under the fierce barrage of attacks. Blueshift strikes Robot Pteranodon with ram. "I think you're about to get your wish, Blueshift!" Ramjet mutters as he dives to the left, avoiding a chunk of rock that splatters against the ground where he once stood. He hefts up to his feet in short order. "Now.. if anyone doesn't have anything pithy to say about how our war destroys everything it touches, yadda, yadda, yadda... I propose we get to HIGHER GROUND!" Pressing his feet against the ground, Ramjet leaps into the air. He immediately opens fire, blasting an airborne rock into pebbles. Galvatron runs right through the hologram. His speech is wasted, and he tumbles into a snowbank -- which, it turns out, is covering a frozen lake, which he promptly falls through. The figure on the cross raises his head slowly. "Ten million years our race has existed on this pit of a world!" he croaks. "I am here for heresy. But soon the stars will blink out, and His hand will reach from the Fifth and ensnare us all. It is GOOD that I die here!" Defensor fizzles out as Galvatron moves attempts to attack the fake Defensor which causes him to fall through the ice in a sort of reverse Char-situation. In the meantime Hound activates his radio to get in touch with the other nearby Autobots. 'I hope that did it, guys, because they're not going to buy another one.' Soundwave reaches out toward the figure with his hand, going for the front of his attire. "Parameter undefined: Him. Explain." The figure lifts his head as Soundwave speaks. "They come here like moths to a flame!" he croaks. "The radiation, the pulsars... drawn by the signals of the dead and the dying, gathered and harvested by His creatures. This is what you have unleashed." He coughs up oil as in the distance, the volcanoes rumble even louder. "He is the devil himself, the enemy with no face..." He starts to zone out slightly, shaking, as a firestorm of ash and flaming rock starts to rain down With an avian roar, Swoop unfolds into his robot mode. "Hn..me Swoop could go for whole box of Cyberapples right now," the Dinobot muses. "Me like the green ones. They more sweeter. Er, or maybe more sourer? They still good, though." Swoop is far too busy thinking about food to even try making an attempt at avoiding Blueshift's ramming, so, naturally, he get's hit dead on and is sent careening downwards, stopping only when he hits the ground with a loud crash. "Grr, him Stupidshift STUPID! Me Swoop leaving only with him stupid head on stick!" The blue Dinobot shifts forms and fires a missile from one of the launchers on his wings. Hell yes. Swoop misses Blue Spaceship with its Fablam! attack. Fleet watches with the faintest smile as the giant vanishes. Hmmm. Hologram. Fool me once... He glances down as Soundwave continues to question the local. "Madness," he murmurs. "It's always prophesies of doom. What else would it be?" He hisses, then gains altitude to twist and dodge and dance around the aerial rocks and magma. "I'd normally be in ice when it gets like this. Not much safer. For destruction ice is also nice. But it's a different kind of danger." Durango listens in on the conversation, even as he stares down Soundwave, daring him to make a move. He is about to radio to Sheng for privacy's sake, before he realizes how stupid that would be...c'mon.../Soundwave/. "Sheng... ask 'im about that thing we encountahed up in space..." Sheng looks over her shoulder at Fleet, then at Soundwave, then she mentally shrugs, steps forward and slices the chains that bind the natives legs to the cross, then the chains that bind his arms, grabbing him and dragging him off to teh side as she frees him, a stride or two away from Soundwave, although that is not much of a prevention. "What heresy. Explain yourself." She curses and leaps back, dragging teh hooded form with her as anther boulder falls from teh sky, twisting so that the magma hits her back. "Explain while there is still time, or you will die for naught!" Blueshift transforms to robot mode, in the same stroke swinging his sword at the Dinobot. "Yesss... apples shall be your gravemarker!" he shouts, his face lit by the glow of his weapon, as more and more flaming rocks fall, lightly at first but getting heavier and heavier. "And I shall be your killer!" The spaceship flips up into the handsome form of Blueshift Blueshift misses Swoop with his Laser Sword! attack. The cloak figure gasps as Sheng cuts him free. "Nono..." he moans, struggling. "I must atone and cleanse myself. I am a priest at the temple of the Nameless Town, it is my DUTY to my people. I die or I return, that is all!" Soundwave has been courteous at this point, ignoring the Autobot. As the cloak rips free in his grasp, his palm pushes outward to shove Sheng back. He wants this alien to interrogate himself. Soundwave succeeds in grasping Sheng, throwing her off-balance. Hound leaps forward out his cave as he sees the cross bound figure cut free by Sheng before the other is cut free as he activates his radio. , Talazia Keldahoff stays above the battle starting to commence. 'if you can cut the cross....do so and just race out of there guys.' Hound makes his way as fast as he can toward where the alien was cut down from his cross but, evidently, too late to assist. He doesn't see that right away, however, as he sees Fleet about to open fire on Sheng. Hound's turret whips around, aiming toward the Decepticon, before opening fire with a rapid fire stream of laser fire toward Fleet. Hound strikes you with Laser for 11 points of damage. You are now at 59 endurance, or 84% total. You are 24 from c/e. BOOM The frozen lake explodes, because Galvatron shot it, before shooting his way up out of it. "DECEPTICONS! ASSESS ANYTHING OF WORTH, TAKE IT, AND LET US BE RID OF THIS PIT!" he bellows, his voice reaching record volume with pure anger. After all, he /did/ just look like a complete idiot trying to tackle a hologram. "IF THE AUTOBOTS REFUSE TO DIE QUICKLY, THEN WE'LL JUST /KILL THEM LATER/." Soundwave bears down on Sheng as the alien dies. Static crackles through the air, showing his displeasure. Durango just blinks at the cassettes, and the dead priest. It would seem a moot point now. Only thing left to do is leave...but he can't get the reason they came out of his mind. He shrugs at the tapes surrounding him, and asks, idly. "So, ahh... any of yeh got any clue as teh the distress call we 'eahd?" Swoop shifts into a flying dinosaur! More and more flaming stones fall from the sky, as the inhabitants of the hamlets scattered about, obviously well-versed in this sort of event, scatter into makeshift shelters as the land burns The dagger goes flying past Swoop without him even realizing. "HEY! Where you going!? Me Swoop not done with you Stupid yet!" He transforms and hauls ass at the Decepticon, jaws spread to take a leg like an obnoxious, yappy dog would. Only, you know, a lot bigger. Swoop misses Blueshift with its YipYipRar attack. Blueshift leaps out of the way of Swoop, but doesn't attack, instead flying higher, trying to get above the falling rocks. "Ugh, everything is erupting!" he shouts down. "This planet is a hellhole, it has nothing we need here! I don't care about /knowledge!" Sheng looks at the dead body, and lowers him down. "And let Soundwave ask as he will, no. I think not. I am not the hero he wanted, but he could have tried to act instead of waiting to die." She stands her ground, the fire that burns the land leaping up around her as if inviting her to their destructive grasp, buildings crumbling around them all. She stares down Soundwave as he moves towards her. (And now I know more then I did before. And that's what this was supposed to about, wasn't it? ...The fifth opens here, and I think I know at least a bit of what is going on, which is more then most can say.) Sheng stares at Soundwave, then her lips quirk into a smirk. "Well, well. That fills in many of the gaps nicely." Durango stands bemused as Sheng talks to herself. Fantastic. "Tch, whatevs, me Swoop done with you Stupid," Swoop snorts, turning around and going back to his fly-around-aimlessly routine. Between the scene below him and the various varieties of FLAMING DOOM flying through the air, Fleet is rather distracted. Still, that blast from Hound is certainly enough to catch his attention. He cries out in pain, then shakes it off as Galvatron returns and gives his orders. "There is *nothing* of worth here, My Lord. Only a planet that hates all who touch it." Soundwave's hands come up, like he's ready to reach out and choke the life from Sheng. But he doesn't, he's just threatening. "Reveal knowledge of aliens or die." It's just that simple for him. Maybe. D-56 Ramjet says, "Soundwave." Sheng says, "Information of the aliens? Oh of COURSE, Soundwave." the femme is still smirking as she backs up. There is a probable Catastrophic event. The pulsar caused a numerical transmission. And there is a high probability of technological manipulation. And the alien said a few words before he died."" Blueshift hovers in the air as he hears Sheng's words. "Oh. So you tricked us! Die Autobot, die!" He lowers his weapon and shoots down at Sheng. "My Lord, let us leave this world, we gained nothing here!" He has already forgotten about Fleet and the priest Blueshift strikes Sheng with Pew pew. D-56 Ramjet says, "/Soundwave/." Galvatron has already abandoned Blueshift, and is halfway back to CONE-1. Fleet really rather expects to be forgotten about. Ventress Exo-Suit Jet turns about in mid-air and fires on blueshift. 'Let's GO guys! I don't think there's anything else here.' Ventress Exo-Suit strikes Blueshift with disruptor. "..Oh for the love of," Ramjet mutters aloud as he busies himself with dodging magma-bursts and falling rock. "I have little desire to waste my time on yet another..." He points his rifle-cannon at the flitting Exo-Suit and fires promptly. "..DOOMED world! On the bounce, Decepticons!" Ventress Exo-Suit misses Blueshift with its disruptor attack. Ramjet misses Ventress Exo-Suit Jet with his M61A-1 20mm attack. Durango strikes Laserbeak with his Not Really attack. Soundwave says, "Continue transmission." Their master is away? Well, then so is Fleet, as he flies after. This, of course, means that any chasm that was here is gone. Funny thing, that. Soundwave reaches out to grab at Sheng, to toss her back at the other Autobots so he can abscond with his tape crew. The word, "Insolence.." crawls all over the airwaves near him. Soundwave succeeds in grasping Sheng, throwing her off-balance. D-56 Ramjet says, "Decepticons, on the bounce! Cone-1 is departing." Ramjet transforms! His arms fold into his chest cavity as his legs fuse together to allow his thruster housings to slide snug against his chassis. Wings link together and lock into place as his cockpit twists into position. Blueshift says, "I am coming!" Reinforced YF-15 Star Eagle transforms and immediately leaves others in his dust. Ramjet retreats from the area swiftly, outdistancing all pursuit and parting shots. Fleet doesn't have the modern frequency codes yet. Whoops! But he's on his way, anyway. Blueshift shakes his fist at pretty much all of creation as he transforms to spacecraft mode, blasting into the sky after Ramjet. "Wait for ME!" he screams loudly as he departs Blueshift leaps into the air, flipping into the form of a small spacecraft Blueshift begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Reinforced YF-15 Star Eagle . Fleet begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Robot Pteranodon , Ventress Exo-Suit Jet, Reinforced YF-15 Star Eagle , Blue Spaceship. Galvatron sighs. "CONE-1, open bomb bay doors. I suppose." Durango swallows his incredulity and assumes everything's gone according to plan, and orders the retreat back to the shuttle, which Cloudraker has so helpfully prepared. Woo! Durango begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Robot Pteranodon , Sheng, Ventress Exo-Suit Jet, Hound, Catechism, Reinforced YF-15 Star Eagle , Soundwave, Galvatron, Blue Spaceship, Fleet . Middle Dust Plains Nothing. There is nothing here but ground and sky, and even the ground barely deserves mentioning. Gray, cracked ground is packed tight, though not so tight as to keep the top layers from blowing about in the exceedingly heavy winds, some hot, some frigid. Looking around, there is no hint of life in this arid and inhospitable land. The sky, when it can be seen through the dust, is much more interesting. This system sports seven visible stars, but now, in a junction that occurs once in countless eons, the suns have aligned so that only indication that this world has more than one are the different colors flickering along the edges. Blue in the center, yellow beyond that, red on the edges, with other, more exotic hues bursting into life and before fleeing vision as quickly. It's difficult to tell what the light is bouncing off of, but as it reaches its fingers towards the edges of the sky it is reflected and refracted and recombined and split again, scattering shards of broken crystal colors across the cloudless firmament. It offers such stunning contrast to the lifeless gray of the planet that it's visually overwhelming, so that one almost misses the dark spot of a moon hanging halfway between the horizon and the sky-stars. Come to think of it, that moon seems a bit closer to thesuns than it had a while ago... Blueshift has arrived. Ramjet has arrived. Ramjet has left. Ramjet enters the Decepticon Command Shuttle . Blueshift has left. Blueshift enters the Decepticon Command Shuttle . You enter the Decepticon Command Shuttle . Decepticon Command Shuttle ' ''The interior of the shuttle is very roomy, with tapestries hung all over the walls, each detailing a different seeker-cone in heraldic format. . There is a highly technical cockpit that seats numerous Decepticon fliers at various stations, with a blue plane, Tailwind at the helm. Tailwind engages the retro-boosters. '''Travel spam as they return to Cybertron. Blueshift says, "Ugh we got NOTHING out of that trip!" Blueshift says, "We didn't even see any Autobots!" Fleet, luckily, still doesn't have the updated frequencies. D-56 Ramjet says, "My ship needs repairs." Geist says, "Well it's your ship, you fix it." D-56 Ramjet says, "Shouldn't you be busy getting some kind of /infection/ from a Junkion." Blueshift says, "Its true, cases of Cosmic Rust have increased" Geist says, "Your obsession with Junkions is disturbing, Ramjet. Keep your cone clean." D-56 Ramjet says, "I'm not the one exposing myself to mecha-whatevers, Sweep. Keep your mouth shut before you spread something wicked to the rest of my pilots." Blueshift says, "Hey, the Air Commander always watches where he dips his cone!" D-56 Ramjet says, "Don't you ever come onto me again, Sweep. Or I will do more than just break your face." Blueshift says, "Oh dear. I will fetch the cloth sir" Personnel Update by Ramjet From the files of Ramjet! AEROSPACE: Fleet Designation: WARRIOR Rank: PILOT Model: CYBERTRON DESIGN, TETRAJET AERIAL SUPERIORITY FIGHTER Colors: YELLOW, GREY, BLUE Head-Design: VENT-STYLE Load-Out: LASER AND BALLISTIC ARMAMENTS Status: -ACTIVE- Not Blueshiftia by Catechism Catechism has a cracked-in cockpit and appears to have been melted in several places. There are also few icicles hanging off her. The poster girl for extreme weather reports, "A distress signal led us to investigate a world that is not named Blueshiftia. It had eight suns, one of them a pulsar." She pauses to look up pulsars on FUTURE Wikipedia before continuing, "So pulsars do crazy magnetic and radio wave stuff, so it was hard to fly. That's the gist of it, anyway. As we approached, we were attacked by this massive space dragon thing that seemed to really like weird music, which also menaced the pathetic humans and Autobots." "After knocking it out of the sky, we landed and finished off the beast. A sudden snowstorm and volcanic activity forced us to move south. However, a stray superheated boulder knocked me into a snowdrift," she gestures to her damages, and her expression gets very serious, "Of course, I called for help... and people, my call for help was the one that dragged all of us out here!" She waves her arms over her head and grimaces. "No, I don't know what kind of screwy physics that is. I shoot things." "We found a Seeker that we had apparently misplaced, and there was a skirmish with the Autobots. Seeker Fleet, report to medical for a routine maintenance check-up, and once you have been cleared, report to me. I want to hear all about your... stay. Catechism, out." Oh, there was a crazy old priest, too? Guess Catechism didn't want to mention that. Wonder why... Transcript: Alkor Zephyr by Catechism By request of Lord Cyclonus CATECHISM: Are you even alive? Speak! Speak for your new overlords! PRIEST: So you have returned, as we feared! I was right, I am always right... he is coming back... CATECHISM: Oh, I know how this goes! Next thing, you'll be rambling about the Lords of the Fourth. Look, we have *not* been here before. I checked it. * PRIEST: Here on Alkor Zephyr the gateway to the Fifth was opened. "And your master... I am glad I will not live to see the day... CATECHISM: I guess that we have been here before, then. GOLD AUTOBOT: The fifth? GOLD AUTOBOT: I'll speak to the being. GOLD AUTOBOT: The fifth, that book obsessed seeker and Galvatron. 'oh it was a ruse and trap' indeed. FLEET: You'll get nothing useful from /him/. He's quite mad. It happens a lot around here. Radiation. Gets more common when they get older. Odds favor, that's why he's out here. Live long enough here, it'll drive anyone mad. PRIEST: Is it... is it... No... It is not him. We /are/ all doomed. GOLD AUTOBOT: Ah. So what I thought was true. But sometimes people can save themselves without heroes. Why are you on this cross?HerRIEST: Ten million years our race has existed on this pit of a world! I am here for heresy. But soon the stars will blink out, and His hand will reach from the Fifth and ensnare us all. It is GOOD that I die here! SOUNDWAVE: Parameter undefined: Him. Explain. PRIEST: They come here like moths to a flame! The radiation, the pulsars... drawn by the signals of the dead and the dying, gathered and harvested by His creatures. This is what you have unleashed. He is the devil himself, the enemy with no face... FLEET: Madness. It's always prophesies of doom. What else would it be? I'd normally be in ice when it gets like this. Not much safer. For destruction ice is also nice. But it's a different kind of danger. AUSTRALIAN AUTOBOT: Sheng... ask 'im about that thing we encountahed up in space... SHENG (GOLD AUTOBOT): What heresy. Explain yourself. Explain while there is still time, or you will die for naught! PRIEST: I must atone and cleanse myself. I am a priest at the temple of the Nameless Town, it is my DUTY to my people. I die or I return, that is all! SHENG: What must you atone for? Speak or you will not be cleansed. We may yet save your people if you tell us! If your duty is to them then try to save them. Your golden hero of pictured legend is not here, and is likely not coming. You'll have to make due with this one. FLEET: Oh, grand heroes! They'll save it whether it wills it or not! Who needs free will in this day and age? Obviously the /Autobots/ know what's best for strange aliens they've only just met! I can't say I care whether or not you /force/ your goodwill on the Priest here, but you /are/ interferring with a fellow Decepticon's task. Cease. PRIEST: You... are not him! You are... ignorant... But one day, he will return. One day the sacred light of the Matrix will be with us again... One day, Vec- * Later intelligence contradicted this statement; the Seeker Fleet had actually visited Alkor Zephyr, prior. However, at the time, it was not known that he had. End transcript